


New Beginnings

by Katrina



Series: Daily Prompt/750words set [2]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: 750 words, Daily prompt, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-14
Updated: 2012-08-14
Packaged: 2017-11-12 03:07:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/485990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katrina/pseuds/Katrina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zack and Aeris have a talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Beginnings

Stepping into the flare of white, Zack paused, glancing back one last time as Cloud moved to talk to the others in the church.

Finally.

“He is more stubborn than I remembered,” he said, moving to catching up with Aeris, hand reaching out to catch hers. “Or maybe he just got more so after I died.”

“I think it might be your fault. I remember a very persistent SOLDIER who managed to shake off what should have been a fatal fall just to ask for a date.” Aeris’s voice was light, the amusement clear to hear. She glanced at him with a smile and curled her fingers around his. “Barely any hesitation at all.”

“Well, if the lady who was talking to me hadn’t been so stunning, it might have taken a few minutes longer.” Zack grinned at her easily, then shook his head. “It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? That it’s all finally done.”

Aeris snorted. “You say that, and fate will take it as a challenge.”

“True. But...he’s sleeping now, right?”

A tug, and the white around them seemed to flex. Zack didn’t even blink anymore. He had been dead too long to be phased by how easy it was to both move in the afterlife, as well as just how many shades of white there were. His attention was on the soft flow of silver that settled before them. 

There was four bodies there. Three were curled up together. The one, Kadaj, had called Aeris mother before his eyes had shut and he had gone to sleep, and Zack wished it hadn’t been this way. The kid hadn’t even really gotten a chance to live, and now he and his brothers were here. Oh, he -knew- that, really, Kadaj shouldn’t have existed in the first place, that he had been a creation of either Sephiroth or Jenova, maybe both, in order to bring about Sephiroth’s newest resurrection. But, still, he had been alive, and had all sorts of plans and goals.

If only they wouldn’t have resulted in the death of everything.

Reaching out, Zack brushed his fingers over Kadaj’s hair. Then the other two brothers. While he was a bit irked at Yazoo and Loz for shooting Cloud, they had been led easily by Kadaj, who had been led by his creator. One day, maybe they would be able to figure out just who was in control, Sephiroth or Jenvoa, but it didn't really matter any more. Not now.

After a few moments, Zack looked back at Aeris. Her eyes were on the fourth body, a faint frown on her face. Not that Zack could blame her. He didn't have a single person to blame for his death, but she did, and that man laid before her now.

Sephiroth was far more tense than the brothers were. Where they laid as limp and lax as a pile of puppies who had worn themselves out, Sephiroth was stiffer, as if he expected someone to come and wake him up. Waiting, really. It was almost sad. Zack wondered if he had ever seen the man really relax, or if under the outer shell this tension had always been there.

Of course, when he looked at Sephiroth now, he couldn't help but notice the faint curls of black that seem to wisp off of him on a regular basis. Each time one did, it almost seemed as if each one seemed to drag a bit more color from Sephiroth. A bit more of the solidness that Sephiroth always seemed to have. Little by little, the lifestream was pulling away the taint that was Jenova. 

"Once she's gone, he'll be able to finally move one," Aeris said suddenly, eyes not moving off of Sephiroth. "He'll be taken away and given the chance to start over. Just like they will." A glance at the brothers. "They were alive, even if they were created by the Calamity."

Zack moved, taking a few steps to stand behind his lady and wrapped his arms around her. Tugging her against his chest, he held her, feeling her tremble faintly in his arms. "It's for the best, yeah? Let them get a chance at really living instead of what they got this time around. They'll get a chance to really live, and he'll get a chance to be alive without having to be a specimen his entire life."

He ducked his head to press a kiss against her temple.

"And so will you." 

That was a soft little murmur into Aeris's ear as he held her tight. "Get a chance to just grow up and be a normal kid." He chuckled softly. "And we'll get to find each other again. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

She gave a weak laugh, and then nodded, relaxing against him. "That does sound like it would be nice. Maybe we'll even manage to time things right that we'll see the others again at some point."

"If Spike and Tifa get their act together, who knows, we might see them sooner than we think."

That got another laugh, one that was a bit more solid and real. "That would be amusing," Aeris said after a minute. "And you'd enjoy yourself if you ended up there."

He grinned against her hair. "You, too." A tighter hug. "Ready to go?"

Aeris hummed. "I think so. How about you? Ready to start all over again?"

"Yeah. Let's hope our lives are a little less eventful this time."

"Sounds good."

///

Tifa and Cloud had a hell of a shock when their second child had silver hair, though the boy was rather attached to Yuffie's son. The boys were as different as night and day, with Yuffie's kid having as much energetic bounce as she did, and their son being as quiet as his father sometimes was. Both were still fairly young when Denzel and Marlene made Barret a grandfather, much to the older man's grumbling. Both of them doted on the girl.

Sometimes, Cloud looked at the kids and wondered, something tickling in the back of his mind, but he never focused too hard on it. Better to let things be, and let the kids grow up without any ghosts over them.


End file.
